On Saturday night, I headed over to Canary Wharf for a Liquid Supper Club hosted at Barlog HQ following some encouragement from Su-Lin Ong, who was co-hosting that evening.
Barlog HQ
I took Su-Lin’s advice and arrived in style taking the boat across, which is an amazing way to see London, and dropped us very close to the front door.
I had the most fantastic night - my husband and I were regular bar flies, sat at the bar for most of the evening watching the cocktails being created (my next flat MUST now have room for a bar).
I have to say I LOVE the concept of liquid supper clubs, so much so, we’re considering hosting something similar at our new pad in Brighton (when we get there and assuming there is space for a phenomenal bar like Barlog’s). Paul was the consumate host, opening up his home and superbly stocked bar to people like me and my hubby (who he’s never met before) is a really brave thing to do especiallly then allowing said guests to plough through your stash of high quality liquor. The atmosphere was much more upbeat and relaxed than any supper club I’ve been to recently, it was more like a houseparty vibe.
My only regret was having to leave just as things were getting interesting. We’d had our five cocktails of the evening and now the bar was taking requests, dangerous. I opted for a drop of 15 year old El Dorado rum. We then had to dash to catch the tube home, I think next time I’ll wait for the first tube back in the morning and watch the sun rise soaking up the phenomenal views.
Now to the cocktails, my favourite of the evening was the raspberry Bourbon-Berry.
The Bourbon Berry
The Bourbon Berry
15ml Chambord
20ml lime juice
30ml woodford reserve
10ml gomme Muddle blackberries with gomme then shake all ingredients hard,
Serve in a rocks glass over crushed ice
Garnish with fresh crushed ice and a icing powder covered blackberry (if you like your drinks sour lower or just leave the gomme).
That was until, the Sloane Danger was introduced. Now I’d heard of this one before I arrived, as Paul has created it for a Twisted Traditions Sloane cocktail competition. It contains a whopping 92.5ml of liquor, but is dangerously drinkable. It has the pungency of lemon peel with the creamy finish of cream soda. Paul had tailored the volume of vanilla syrup depending on the palate of the end drinker, so it was perfectly balanced – we were firmly in the sour camp. It was kind of like a lemon meringue pie, with a wonderful fluffy texture - just without the super sweet finish.
DANGER DANGER – Sloane Danger, Lone Ranger
Sloane Danger
Liquid Supper Club is an genius concept and Paul Houston is the man to host, he has an incredible amount of energy and enthusiasm. I am in awe of his passion, energy and openness and will most definitely be back for more. I’ll leave you with my favourite mental images of the evening, no not the stunning Canary Wharf views, but the incredible ’Shake face’ – yes everyone’s got one…
'Shake Faces'
